join us monday, january 15th, at 4:00 p.m. eastern for cnn s coverage of the iowa caucuses. anderson cooper and kaitlan collins will pick it up now with more on the debate. see you tomorrow. you are looking, the debate stage at drake university in des moines, iowa. tonight s cnn republican debate, the last one more monday s caucuses. one of two contenders, florida governor ron desantis. anderson, he and nikki haley, the south carolina governor, were one-on-one for the first time on the debate stage.
mind. he did not build the wall. this is what frustrates the other republican voters. can i make a point on what he said? it s interesting the contrast he set up. desantis, he s a politician. and he says, you have to win elections. this is where the public is. in a weird way, people say, he s being honest. he s not b.s. ing us. and that s what works for him. that s what worked for him throughout his career. people don t look at him as a politician, in the way they look at a ron desantis or nikki haley or the others. his supporters here. they are hostile to prevailing politics. that s part of his strength. i agree with you, he s changed the party orthodox. you heard him articulate his
kitchens and diners. the challenge is going to be why see the cover band when you can see the original. the juxtapositions are the differences he s highlighted. they are very minimal. it s minor things around covid lockdowns and things he would have done different on litigation. he doesn t litigate his character or the 91 felony counts against him. so i think this you re can t take too much from a focus group, but it does reflect from what i hear from voters. if trump is in the race, we re not going to go with trump like. nikki haley, to your credit, at least has carved out a different lane. it s going to be hard for her. new hampshire, she has to perform extremely well. then it goes on to south carolina. what is the game plan going forward? momentum out of new hampshire? try to carry that through south carolina and into super tuesday? it s an open question. does she have moment up? she comes in a distant third here, what does that do? a lot of the conversations have been about t
when governor chris christie announced that he was ending his presidential ambitions, he said that he was unwilling to say that the former president, anyone who is unwilling to say that the former president is unfit to be president is, and i m quoting chris christie, is unfit themselves. haley and desantis were asked if the former president has the character to hold that office. neither answered the question directly. governor desantis did talk to trump not fulfilling promises. he gave the same replay a moment ago. haley responded and said his way is not my way. chris sununu has endorsed governor haley. whey do you think both of the
will be the nominee. people need to wake up and realize these two people may be on the ballot. they i think beyonce and taylor swift don t want to be compared to either of them. everyone, stay there. i want to welcome our viewers who might just be joining us tonight. it s now midnight here in new york. 11:00 p.m. in des moines. we are now less than five days out from the iowa caucuses. the final republican debate before those first votes are boing to be cast is now in the books. rd rd is and nikki haley, the only two make ing the cut. donald trump staying away holding that town hall instead nearby. more on how all of this landed. i want to go to gary tuckman with a group of voters we have gotten to know throughout the campaign. i know the gang is back assembled. we watched all five of these